Posttraumatic stress disorder may be associated with impaired fear inhibition: relation to symptom severity.
Psychiatry Res
; 167(1-2): 151-60, 2009 May 15.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-19345420
One of the central problems in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the inability to suppress fear even under safe conditions. The neural underpinnings of fear are clinically relevant but poorly understood. This study assessed fear potentiation and fear inhibition using fear-potentiated startle in a conditional discrimination procedure (AX+/BX-). We hypothesized that patients with PTSD would show normal fear potentiation and impaired fear inhibition. Subjects comprised 28 healthy volunteers and 27 PTSD patients (14 with low current symptoms, 13 with high current symptoms) who were presented with one set of colored lights (AX trials) paired with aversive air blasts to the throat, and a different series of lights (BX trials) presented without air blasts. We then presented A and B together (AB trials) to see whether B would inhibit fear potentiation to A. All groups showed robust fear potentiation in that they had significantly greater startle magnitude on AX trials than on noise-alone trials. However, the high-symptom PTSD group did not show fear inhibition: these subjects had significantly greater fear potentiation on the AB trials than both the controls and the low-symptom PTSD patients.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Reflexo de Sobressalto
/
Transtornos de Estresse Pós-Traumáticos
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Medo
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Inibição Psicológica
Tipo de estudo:
Diagnostic_studies
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Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Humans
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Male
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Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Psychiatry Res
Ano de publicação:
2009
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos